Evolution Of English Language

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[Writer Name] [Supervisor Name] [Subject] [Date] History of the English Language and some of the many Factors that have influenced its Evolution Language is surely the most influential form of communication. It is the most powerful instrument an individual can have. By definition, language is the use voice sounds by human beings, organized in order to express and communicate thoughts and feelings. It is what has shaped our society into what it has become today, what has allowed our civilization to excel and progress into what is now modern day. Language has allowed the individual to communicate within a group as well as within him in order to accomplish many goals. Language gives us a means by which we can organize our ideas and thoughts into rational, logical actions. It is also a vehicle by which we can gather, analyze, and learn from information. The main components of any language are a sender, a receiver, a message, and a medium. Noise and feedback come afterwards. The sender encodes a message and through the medium sends it to the receiver who decodes it to understand it. This is how any language works. The encoding is done in words, or vocabulary, which the receiver interprets according to his perception and context. During the last few centuries, the vocabulary of English has evolved at a very rapid speed (Wheeler 17). The usage of vocabulary also depends upon whether it is being used in English language or English literature. Literature basically means writings in prose or verse; especially the writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest. Stories, dramas, novels, novelettes, poetry, etc. or ideas related to these come under literature (Peck and Coyle 13). I...

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...ost common ways to produce new words is the process called borrowing, which is the taking over of words from other languages. The English language has always been adopting so-called loanwords from other languages. Some examples are elephant (Arabic origin), croissant (French origin), yogurt (Turkish origin), pretzel and kindergarten (both German origin). A language or languages evolve just as individuals evolve, nations evolve, and humans evolve. And evolution means that the only permanent thing is change. Works Cited Baugh, Albert. A History of the English Language. Routledge. 1963 Wheeler, Rebecca. The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives. Praeger. 1999 Peck, John; Coyle, Martin. A Brief History of English Literature. Palgrave Macmillan. 2002 Naomi, Baron. Alphabet to Email: How Written English Evolved and Where It’s Heading. Routledge. 2001

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